Podgorica is distancing itself further from Belgrade--and from the
Yugoslav Army, which it feels poses a direct threat.

Zeljko Ivankovic in Podgorica

The Yugoslav Army is increasing the pressure on Montenegro's
civilian authorities, putting at risk the republic's attempts to
remain neutral in the war between Belgrade and NATO. Some Montenegrin
observers describe as a "creeping coup". Tension between Podgorica
and the Yugoslav Army has grown steadily since the beginning of the
month when Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic installed Gen.
Milorad Obradovic at the head of the Yugoslav Army in Montenegro,
replacing Gen. Radoslav Martinovic. Though both men are Montenegrins,
the move was significant since General Obradovic is viewed as a
Milosevic loyalist and Montenegro's President Milo Djukanovic was not
consulted about the change. Since his appointment, Obradovic has
charted a collision course with the Montenegrin authorities, stepping
up mobilisation throughout the republic and launching a media
offensive. As a result, many Montenegrin observers feel a coup is
already taking place.

"The army is abusing its position to settle scores with the
Montenegrin government," said Dragan Soc, Montenegro's justice
minister, who has three times refused to respond to call-up papers.
"They have no need for extra soldiers, since they don't even have the
means to keep them in the army. They are just throwing their weight
around to demonstrate their influence and power," he said. Military
press gangs are mobilising young men indiscriminately in the streets,
military courts have begun prosecuting draft dodgers, and the
Yugoslav Army has stepped up its public criticism of key politicians
and other leading figures in Montenegrin society.

One target of the Yugoslav army's wrath is Novak Kilibarda,
Montenegro's deputy prime minister, whom it accuses of "intending to
weaken the country's defences". On the eve of NATO's bombing
campaign, Killibarda said that NATO could not be an aggressor because
it was an alliance. Moreover, in the event of war, Montenegro would
remain neutral, declare independence from Serbia and prevent the
Yugoslav Army in Montenegro from activating its defences.

Obradovic has set up his own television station in a building
belonging to the Yugoslav Army with equipment brought from Belgrade.
The output of this station is very similar to that of Serbian
television, whose headquarters in Belgrade were targeted Thursday
night by NATO bombing. NATO is systematically referred to as
"fascists" or "aggressors". The terminology used on the military
station contrasts with that of Montenegrin television, which the
Yugoslav Army accuses of bias. The Yugoslav Army is also impeding the
work of foreign journalists, whom the Montenegrin government allows
to operate freely. The army has confiscated equipment and detained
reporters. "The Yugoslav Army is intimidating foreign journalists to
show them the impotence of the government and the absence of security
guarantees. They hope that the journalists will go away so that they
can stage a coup in Montenegro," asserts Soc. A series of meetings
between Obradovic and Montenegro's prime minister, president and its
parliament's speaker have failed to ease tensions. Geneneral
Obradovic, nevertheless, succeeded in pressurising Montenegrin
television into broadcasting every night a 30-minute programme
entitled "Defending the Homeland", a move which has upset
Montenegro's independent media. "The Yugoslav Army's aim in
Montenegro is not to defend the homeland from aggressors, as they
say, but to silence Milosevic's opposition in Montenegro, that is the
government and independent media," the independent daily newspaper
Vijesti said in an editorial. A day later, military police entered
the newspaper's offices and threatened to "stop this view being
printed" in the future.

"The Yugoslav army is supposed to be the army of Serbia and
Montenegro, but instead it's Milosevic's tool to impose his political
views on Montenegro," said Miodrag Perovic, the founder and publisher
of the weekly magazine MONITOR.

He urges the Montenegrin government to seize control of army
barracks and units in their republic. "This could be achieved by
forming a Republican Ministry of Defence and the republican
parliament voting to give Montenegro's prime minister complete
control of the army in his jurisdiction," Perovic says.

Tension soared most recently when the Yugoslav Army fired a surface-
to-air missile at a NATO plane from a naval ship anchored in the port
of Bar. Petrasin Kasalica, director of the port, immediately
protested the "abuse of the port's hospitality" to the Yugoslav Army.
"If you wish to defend the homeland from NATO planes, then I advise
you to move your ships from the port," he said. "If your provocation
is returned and NATO planes start bombing, then our future will be
doomed and everything that we have now will be destroyed."

Zeljko Ivanovic is founder and director of Vijesti, the only
independent daily newspaper in Montenegro.